MAR98 cruise

The MAR98 research cruise, dedicated exclusively to seabed sampling, took place in June 1998. This was more than 15 years after the last phase of pioneer seafloor exploration of the Tyrrhenian Sea, carried out in the early ‘70s and the early ‘80s. In the intervening years, technological advances, such as differential GPS, multibeam bathymetry and parametric sonar greatly enhanced the precision, stratigraphic control and success rate of rock sampling efforts. MAR-98 was focussed on the axial Marsili Seamount at the centre of the Marsili basin and the basin margins, including its northern (Palinuro Seamount) and eastern margins (Basiluzzo Island and Stromboli Canyon) and Eolo, Enarete and Sisisfo Seamounts on its southern margin. MAR-98 had two main aims: i) to characterise the rock types making up the margins and central volcano of the recent-most back- arc basin in the Mediterranean; and ii) to explore for new, and better qualify the known, volcanogenic hydrothermal deposits in the area. 56 dredge hauls and 28 gravity cores were recovered during the 22-day expedition. Surprisingly, the only items that have passed unchanged throughout the years are the actual instruments used for sampling: the dredge and the gravity corer.